Espino to new Pangasinan top cop: Beef up fight vs illegal drugs, attend to unsolved slays

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan, Philippines – Gov. Amado Espino Jr. has given two marching orders to the newly designated officer-in-charge of the provincial police: go hard on illegal drugs and attend to unsolved killings.

Espino gave the orders when Senior Superintendent Sterling Raymund Blanco paid him a courtesy call yesterday at the provincial capitol, accompanied by Senior Superintendent Moro Virgilio Lazo, officer-in-charge of the Region 1 police, and Superintendent Laurence Sison, provincial deputy police director for administration.

Espino wants the police and the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA) to wage an all-out war against illegal drugs, which have reportedly proliferated in the province.

Espino said he is saddened by the low conviction rate of suspected drug dealers, prompting him and the Pangasinan Judges Association led by Judge Hermogenes Fernandez to sponsor last month a seminar attended by lawyers and police officers on the proper handling of illegal drug cases.

No less than Secretary Antonio Villar Jr., chairman of the Dangerous Drugs Board who hails from Pangasinan, had expressed alarm over drug-related incidents in the province. 

Espino, a retired police colonel and former police commander of Pangasinan, issued a memorandum yesterday to all mayors, saying that Villar himself “is asking for intensified local government unit support in the anti-drug campaign in Pangasinan.”

Although the provincial government has been conducting seminars and other support activities against illegal drugs, Espino said, “We all know that the anti-drugs campaign, especially the job of breaking the illegal drugs supply/marketing chain, is principally a police matter.” 

He added that the surveillance, apprehension and arrest of drug pushers and dealers are police matters.

“Nonetheless may I urge everyone to undertake intensified anti-drugs campaign measures in your respective localities. Better still if the Pangasinan Mayors’ League can meet to discuss and plan a coordinated effort,” he added. 

For his part, Blanco said he would seriously act on Espino’s orders, calling on local police officials to gird for action and bring positive results. 

Blanco, former chief of the Region 1 police intelligence division, said unsolved killings affect peace and order and vowed to closely pay attention to this problem. 

“We need to solve unsolved killings and we can only do this through the cooperation and support of the people,” he said.

Meanwhile, PDEA-Region 1 director Adrian Alvariño said Espino also asked him to beef up the war on illegal drugs when he paid a courtesy call yesterday.